The blog owner is a a master’s student at the Graduate Institute of Geneva specializing in the Environment, Resources and Sustainability Track.
First gotten the idea to publish a blog post as part of my Environmental Institutions’ class, it has motivated me to focus on one particular environmental problem which I deeply care about to dig in deeper and see how it is currently being governed.
Why groundwater?
I’m a native of a landlocked country, Mongolia. You might think given it’s a vast country with bountiful land and resources, that it is not affected by environmental degradation problems as much. However, one ‘interesting’ problem that we face in the context of things that we might have never thought that we will face is: groundwater depletion, pollution and air pollution in the capital city of Ulanbaatar. It is on one hand bizarre, on the other hand sad, to see easily preventable problems arise only if we have managed it better – in terms of having better urban landscape, better waste management or overall, just a better location of the city…. (anthropocentric view for sure). So, what has caught my attention in a more anthropocentric way due to the imminent danger it poses for the population was groundwater depletion. It is a resource that is highly under-the-radar which is incredibly hard to track its usage and depletion through a naked eye. In my personal experience, I would be able to detect the depletion surface waters such as lakes and rivers but groundwater, being hidden from eye, makes it inherently difficult for us, humans, to conceptualize that it is also a depleting resource. In other words, it is a hidden calamity underway which needs much more attention and studying so that when the time comes (hopefully not) we perhaps know how to better manage it.
Why do this?
It will build up knowledge about the hidden groundwater systems, governance, sustenance
Concentrate resources in one place as water governance is inherently decentralized
Potentially to be used by those who are interested, civil society, policymakers and NGOS, to connect the dots between governance levels
Build up my own personal portfolio on one environmental issue that I deeply care about and feel like I can contribute my knowledge to
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